Earlier this week, Bill O’Reilly appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for a spirited debate. But the conversation went deeper than what was televised, and O’Reilly was happy with the result.
While discussing the topic with 77 WABC morning show host Sid Rosenberg, O’Reilly gave credit to Stewart for even welcoming him to the program.
“I think that the credit here goes to Stewart because he invited me onto the program. He did it because he knows that when it’s me, it’s civil,” O’Reilly said before noting that the reason — in his view — that the reason Donald Trump was shot at a Pennsylvania rally last week was because civility has been lost in the American political discourse.
On the Comedy Central show, Bill O’Reilly and Jon Stewart only sparred for 15 minutes before the conversation was forced to conclude due to the nation of the TV shows commercial break schedule. But O’Reilly revealed he then sat down with Stewart for an episode of his podcast — The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart — for an hour-long conversation.
And in that conversation, O’Reilly had high praise for both Stewart and the discussion, adding that he believes that what television and radio coverage should look like today.
“I think that’s the best debate you will ever see in your life,” O’Reilly said. “It is a stunning piece of public discourse. I don’t want to get pinholy here. It’s still funny. There are very funny moments in the hour. But I take him on ideologically, and when you see it go back and forth, I think you’re really gonna — you’re not gonna fall asleep during this hour.”
Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly have a long history of televised debates, going back decades when O’Reilly was at Fox News. In less than 24 hours, the YouTube video featuring the two during the podcast episode has more than 150,000 views.
